Improvement in lithographic presses



A. HOEN LITHOGRAPHIG PRESS.

No. 89,997. Patented May 11, 1869.

lliilliiitld I sem fittest chm- 7 IMPROVEMENT IN LITHOG-RAPHIC FRI-38538.

, .-0- The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern.- Be it known that 1, Ancns'r Hour, of the city and county of Baltimore, and State of Maryland, have invented a new and improved Ohromo-Lithographic: Power-Press; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,- and exact description of the con struction and operationof the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- 7 Figures 1 and 2 are side elevations, representing opposite sides of the press.

In the drawings- A A is the frame, on which thebed B travels, sup ported throughout its whole movement .by the eccentric cylinder 0, fig. 2*, the circumference of which is equal to the distance travelled by the bed;

Dis an oscillating cross-beam; and

E, a scraper-holder, supported by the cross-beam, and provided with a screw, F, to adapt it to the varithe pressure.

-G G are two arms, connected with the cross-beam, and provided with dogs H, which strike the studs 1, fastened to the bed, in its forward movement, and thereby. raise'the arms G G, bringing the scraper to aperpendicular position, and in contact with the stone, at that moment andv at that point where the pressure ought toJconimence.

At the same time the highest part of the eccentric cylinder 0 has arrived at the same point of the perpendicnlar line, and thereby, in connection withthe aboveous heights of the different stones, and also to regulate described cross-beam, forms a toggle-joint, producing a powerful pressure.

,The bed continues to move forward, carrying. the stone and paper through under the pressure of .tlie

scraper, and thereby producing an impression..

. Between the paper and the scrapera tympan-leather, J, passes over a] system of rollers, an m m, in the shape of an endless apron, fastened at one point to the bed at n.

When the entire stone has passed under the scraper,

- the motion of the bed is reversed, (as hereafter to be described,) and the oscillating cross-beam and scraper at once reccde'from their perpendicular to an oblique position,'thereby relieving the stone from its pressure, and. it is free to pass'back.

L isa'large driving-wheel, attached to the shaft of the eccentric-cylinder, and having two rims, one of which has an inside, and the other an outside cog, or friction-gearing.

Between the two rims, the pinion M is placed, and

is moved to either of them by means of the eccentric bearing N of the shaft N. v

This shaitN isumred by the lever P, to which it is joined by the connecting-rod O. j

Power is supplied by a pulley, M, attached to' the axle of the pinion.

By nieans of gearing m m m5, motion isimpartcd from the same pulley, toa crank, Q, to which is attached the connecting-hook R.

This hook R is supported and rests on a roller, S, attached to a rock-bar, S, which serves as the fulcrum .of the lever P, and is thereby either raised or lowered, as the lever ismoved to the right or left.

P, is a lock, or catch, the function of which is to hold the lever P in place and keep the hook'R raised while the impression is being taken.-

The roller carriage V, containing the inkingsrollers, moves on guiding-rods T, which are fixed to the frame, and is propelled to and fro, fromlthe end towards the centre, and parallel with the sides of the press, by

. means of the crank Q and the hook R, the connection between the hook 1t and the carriage Vbeing effected by means of a bent lever, u, pivoted to the frame at 'u', and a connecting-rod,

' When the arm S is down, the hook engages with the lever, and'operates the carriage, but, when up, the

hook vibrates back and forth, without engaging with the lever, and the carriage remains stationary;

The toe W, on the book It, serves to push back. the roller-carriage always toits place over the ink-fouutain, if it should happen that the disconnection-was made at any other point The damping-apparatus consists. of a roller, a, covered with soft materiahand the tilting distributingtable Y, covered with flannel, buckskin, or other similar material. It is worked by the backward motion of the large driving-wbeel,'by means of two pins, X and Z. The first, X, strikes a dog, I), attached to a lever, c, and presses it forward until itpasses over it, carry-' ing the lever c and damping-roller forward, when the next pin, Z, strikes the projection d upon the lever c,

and throws the latter and the damping-roller back to their original position. v The registering-frame and paper-grippers consist of an iron frame, E, and a tail-piece, f, working on a Y pivot-joint, e, fastened to the bedfbut projecting over the sides of the frame A.

' The projecting portion has an open slot, f, which fits to a. pin, g, fastened in the side of the frame A.

By the forward motion of the bed this registering- .frame will close down on the stone through the operation of the slot g, and pin 9, and by the back motion, it will open and raise the impression.

The grippers will close on the paper automatically, as soon as the frame makes an acute angle with the bed, and will open their hold when it approaches an obtuse inclination, by means of the joint '5 and the weighted lever j.

The pointing-apparatus l, with the adjustable points 0 0, serves, also, as a rest for the registering-frame,

while the paper is being fed.

All the parts appertaining to the registering, as the frame, the grippers, the points, andv also the stone, being fastened to one and the same piece, (the bed B,) no variation can occur, but themost perfect register is obtained. r

The journals of the large cylinder which bearsthe' pressure of the scraper, rest, on a bed of. alternate layers of metal plates, 7' 'r, and an elastic material, 3 's such as gum, many similar substance, held together by a screw-arrangement, -t, whereby any amount of rigidity may be obtained.-

The operation of the press is as follows:

The stone is fastened by wedges firmly to the bed; the pressureis regulated by the screw F; the registering-frame adjusted to the proper height; the damping-rollerand table properly moistened, and the fountain and inking-rollers charged with ink which can all be done with the same facility as in a hand-press.

The lever P is raised till it comes in the lock; thereby the pinion M is pressed against the outer rim of the driving-wheel, and, power being applied by the pulley, this wheel consequently starts the large eccentric cylinder, and, with it the bed, in its forward motion.

By means of the pin' g and the slot in the tail-piece, this motion of the bed will'make the registering-frame turn on its pivot, andlay down the paper which has been previously fed to it.

By the further motion of the bed, the stud I comes in contact with the dogs H, which will raise the arms G, and turn the oscillating cross-beam and scraperholder on its axle, at the moment when the eccentric cylinder, with the highest portion of itsperiphery, and the stone, have arrived under the same verticalline.

The pressure is now set, and the stone and paper continue to travel with the bed under the scraper to the end of the sheet, and to a point where an adjustable stop, w, secured to the bed, comes in contact with the lock P, which holds the lever P in position.

The stop opens the lock and releases the lever, and

being counterbalanced, the lever falls back, and throws the pinion M against the opposite, or inner rim of the driving-wheel, thereby reversing thev motion of the cylin'der and bed.

By this reversion, the position of the cross-beam and scraper-holder is changed from 'the vertical -to the oblique, thereby relieving the stone of all pressure, and allowing it to pass freely out.

In the retrograde motion of the bed, when it has arrived at such a point where the stationary pin in the frame A has entered the slot in the tail-piece of the registering-frame, and has so far raised said frame as to allow the damping-table to tilt over, the pin X on the large driving-wheelstrikes the dog '1) on one of the levers that hold the damping-roller, and moves it forward; in consequence, the daunting-roller first passes over the damping-table, and is supplied with moisture, after which the table tilts over on its fulcrum y, and brings the roller in contact with the stone. The roller then passes over the stone. In the mean time the pin X has also passed the intervening dog 12, then a second pin, Z, in the driving-wheel, comes in contact with the projection 01 on the above lever, and raises it. This will pull the damping-roller back again over the face of the stone to the table, which tilts back to its original position.

By this means the stone is damped previous to inking, and a very regu ar degree'of moisture can be maintained, by occasionally wetting the flannel of the table with a sponge.

By this time the bed has arrived-at a point where it comes to a rest; the grippers have raised the impression, and have opened their hold, and the same has been removed; the registering-frame has opened eutirely, and leans back firmly on the rest and pointingapparatus, ready to receive another sheet.

In the mean time the inking-apparatus commences to work.

The stationary position of the bed is maintained by means ofa notch, a", inthe inner rim of the" drivingwheel, into which the pinion enters, and is thereby relieved of all contact with any portion ofthe wheel, which necessarily comes to a stand-still.-

' This same contrivance also serves, at the proper moment, to throw the inking-apparatus into. gear.-

The pinion entering the notch, by being connected with the lever P and the roller S on which the hook it rests, will lower this roller suiiiriently to permit the hook to take hold of the pin a on the bent lever u, which is part of the inking-apparatus.

The connection of this lever and the crank being now established} by means of the hook, the lever will. commence a reciprocating motion, and thereby the ink ing-rollers in the carriage will pass over the stone to and tip, as ofisen as in the judgment of the printerv it is thought-necessary. I

' In the mean time, while the inking is going on, anew vsheet is fed by hand to the grippers.

The lever P is now again raised to the look by hand, .and the press starts for another impression.

By means of the roller S, attached to the fulcrum the book, which is supported by this roller, and thereby .sever the connection of the crank and roller-carriage, which is left standing over the ink-fountain, for a new distribution of ink, while the other operations of the press, as before described, are going on.

The position of the roller-carriage over the fountain, even if the disconnection should have been made at any other point, is always secured by means of the toe, attached to the book, which will push it back to that point under any circumstances.

The advantages of this machine, compared with other presses, are manifold.

The time'required to make an impression will vary a little, according to the size-of the stone that is printed. For a double-medium sheet,'twenty-four by thirty-six inches, it will take about seven seconds to run the impression through and the bed back, and five seconds for inking, twelve seconds" in all for one impression, or three hundred impressions in one hour, which is about as much as a, printer, with the assistance of a help-boy, will do in a whole day on a hand-press.- The impression is sharper and cleaner because the pressure is stronger than thehand-press willadmit of, and at the same time less. rigid.

The tympan-leather never comes in contact with the paper except the line where the scraper presses it; consequently the impressions are free from all blurs and blemishes! The .way the inking-rollers pass over the stone, to and fro, has none of theobjections that are urged against the inking-process of other machines, where the rollers are stationary, and the stone merely passes under them backward and forward once, at a com parati'vely slow speed, in consequence of which the ink clogged or not sufiiciently inked.

In this machine the rollers pass over the stone much more swiftly and oftener, and will thereby keep the picture open and clean, and distribute the ink evenly. It approaches, as near as caln'be, the manner in which a good printer would handle his roller while inking a stone.

to view while inking, and the printer can detect any discrepancy, or accident, and correct it in time, if it should occur. l

which has been found inefficient in most other machines, by supplyingeither too much moisture, or not enough, is successfully accomplished here, because the water is not directly supplied to the damping-roller, or the stone, but to an intermediate distributing-table, from which the roller receives just a sufl'iciency of moisture to dampen the stone perfectly.

A perfect register, so necessary in chromoprinting, has been accomplished by attaching the gripper-sand of the lever P, the raising of the latter will also raise cannot be well distributed, and the picture is either Another advantage is, that the stone is fully exposed I The damping of the stone, so delicate in its nature,

pointing-apparatus securely to the same bed to which i the stone is fastened, and thereby insuring the most perfect and accurate register, as no deviation from the fitting,'in a linear as well as a lateral direction, canoccuru All attempts to sheet the same purpose by other machines, where the form, or stone and the grippers are detached and aifixed todifl'erent portions of machinery, which are connected together by, gearing, or otherwise, have proved themselves unreliable.

' This press will print a stone from its full capacity 'down to the smallest size, and without any previous preparation, as to levelling or cementing them to the.

ordinarystone that can be printed in a hands press, even if it benot perfectly true, or level, can be worked in this machine without difiiculty.

The changing'from one stone to another is done with rapidity and ease.

The register in chrome-printing is adjusted with certainty, and in a few'minutesr This press is calcul' ted to do the finest kind of work, particularly'in chromowprin ting, and with the greatest rapidity compatible with good work.

By prolonging the inking for a few seconds, the very best quality of work is obtained, while in other machines any additional inking can only be had by suspending the pressureyand going through the whole operation of the press, without taking an impression, thereby sacrificing one hundred per. cent. in time.

The press is perfectly self-acting up to the time of inking, which is continued indefinitely,- until suspended by the discretion of the printer, thereby insuring a superior quality of work.

All the operations of the press are so arranged thataccident can occur to any portion of the machinery,

er -3n if worked. by an inexperienced operator.

Havin thus described my invention,

' What claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters- Patent, is-- 1.. The oscillating cross-beam D, adapted to support the scraper-holder E,.and to apply pressure to the stone at the ropcr time by the operation of the arms G and dogs ,in conjunction with the movementof-the bed,

substantially as and for the purposes described.

. 2. In combination with the reciprocating bed of a lithographic printing-press, I claim an eccentric cylinder, 0, having its circumference equal to the distance traversed by each movement of the bed, and so constructed and arranged as to support the bed during its whole movement, and at one part of its movement toraise it, and thereby produce pressure upon the stone.

3. The driving-wheel L, with its double rim,'one of said rims having the recess a, when employed in a printing-press, in combinationiwith the shaft N and pinion M, to produce a forward and backward motion of the bed, substantially as described.

4. The combination of the hook R, lever u, and inking-carriage V, when constructed to. operate as herein described.

5. In combination with said parts R, u, and V, constructed to operate as described, the leverP, shaft S, Eng arm S, substantially as and for the purposes speci- 6. In a printing-press, the combination of the recip rocating roller 11. with the tilting distributing-table Y, when constructed to operate substantially as and for the pin-poses set forth.

7. The register-frame E','pivoted at 0, having the 

